Tips to Improve Reading Comprehension

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• 16 Likes

  Alissalee Free Trial Member

  May 2021 86 karma

  Hello! in my opinion reading comp accuracy should always trump speed. If you can slow down and get it to a confident accuracy, speed develops naturally. I personally struggled a lot until I spent considerably more time in the passage. I slowed down to a snail's pace and worked with the passage untimed. This translated to just about 3-4ish weeks of going from -10 to about -2 even with timed conditions added back in. I ended up scoring a 176 in Oct.

  I personally do not write anything down while I am reading, and I highlight very seldom. My particular method used a lot of putting the passage into my own words and understanding the structure, tone, examples, and used my own examples to both engage with the subject and even aid in memorization. Furthermore, because the questions are rather predictable, I ended up asking myself those questions as I was reading them and was able to have a solid prephrase prior to even reading the questions. By the time I got to the answer choices, I answer hunted most of the time.

  For reference, I spend about 4-5 minutes on each passage and about 3 minutes on the questions. I seldom look back at the passage. Perhaps 2-3 times during the whole test. Other people I have taught have had good success using this method as well.

  If you'd like to talk more about this, I'd be happy to talk to you (or anyone else on this thread) if you'd like to reach out and message me.

  Happy studying!
• 2 Likes

  mcrowle4 Member

  May 2021 27 karma

  Reading comp was my worst, but I was able to improve pretty dramatically with the 7 sage method. I really thought nothing would work, but the method did. I did a week straight of drills and that fixed me right up. I still struggle with timing, but when I was able to allot a full 4 minutes (and then I cut the "memory time" to 30 sec), my accuracy improved. I also got to a point in my studying where something just clicked with reading comp. I am now able to read for the structure rather than getting distracted with the details. Keep at it! RC is the hardest section in my opinion, but you will get there. Good luck!
• 1 Like

  Timmy Is an Avg Kid that No One Understands Member

  May 2021 344 karma

  @mcrowle4 said:
  Reading comp was my worst, but I was able to improve pretty dramatically with the 7 sage method. I really thought nothing would work, but the method did. I did a week straight of drills and that fixed me right up. I still struggle with timing, but when I was able to allot a full 4 minutes (and then I cut the "memory time" to 30 sec), my accuracy improved. I also got to a point in my studying where something just clicked with reading comp. I am now able to read for the structure rather than getting distracted with the details. Keep at it! RC is the hardest section in my opinion, but you will get there. Good luck!

  how did you do your drills exactly?
• 1 Like

  raqraqraq7 Member

  May 2021 56 karma

  @mcrowle4 i always have trouble defining the structure, any tips of vocab or consistent things to think about (i know hypothesis, premises, evaluation/value statement, main point, context...)